“Which one is yours?”
“The boy–there’s only one boy in those shots.”
“Is he yours, or is he adopted?”
Wide-eyed stares snap from the Great Wall ‘O Jackson Love to E., new kid in the room.
“He’s mine AND he’s adopted…just because he’s adopted doesn’t make him any less mine, you know.”
And then I begin to wonder: would it make sense to go off the track and give a little mini-lesson on adoption every semester just so that could avoid some of the questions? Probably. Should I? Not unless I can find a short story that we can use to learn about symbolism or hyperbole or something. I certainly wouldn’t want to be accused of not teaching to the standards.
Any suggestions?
3 responses so far ↓
1 Michelle // Apr 14, 2008 at 10:26 pm
I guess it depends on the subject and the age you are teaching. I was lucky that when I worked at a before/after school care I could do what I wanted and I read stories about adoption at least once a month. Some of the kids didn’t get it at all(they were five). Even if you didn’t have any adopted children, wouldn’t you at least explain the concept to your five year old? I mean, okay, it was a Catholic school, but families are formed many different ways, not just through pregnancy!
2 Michelle Ellis // Apr 14, 2008 at 11:24 pm
wow, very good question
will be checking back to see the responses
3 Michelle // Apr 15, 2008 at 7:54 pm
I think working in short stories would be great…as to which short stories…surely there are some out there!
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